on recovery, and the blind leading the blind.
by carrie
14 feb, ski accident.
1 mar, ortho told me it’s a torn acl.
3 mar, mri.
8 mar, surgery (mom comes for 4 days to help with the little monster).
11 mar, grandpa calls all the kids home (we drive 3 hours – ouch).
12 mar, grandpa henry dies.
14 mar, visitation.
15 mar, funeral.
16 mar and onward, solo with henry. he likes to steal my crutches and run away with them or swing them around like a cowboy in a rodeo.
22 mar, ditch the crutches, tired of having henry steal them.
23 mar, henry has a well-baby visit and reports in at 26#, 34″ (pretty average for a two year old, but remember he’s 15 months).
24 mar, mom and dad arrive from The North.
25 mar, mom reports for total knee surgery at blodgett at 6:30 a.m. i have a post-op appointment at the very same moment that she is rolled into surgery. dan’s mom came to sit with henry so i could go to my appt solo.
25-28 mar, daily visits to the hospital to visit the newly crippled. henry loved doing laps around the square. the rooms were set up around a courtyard and one side was a hallway and all windows so he and baba (my dad) could go around to blow kisses at us cripples in our various stages of recovery.
29 mar, mom gets her walking papers. we four drive north with only one pit stop! the Blessed Katie Sowers has a crock pot of soup waiting for us when we pull in.
30 mar, today.
we all slept fairly well last night. mom got up (out of bed) just once and went 4 hours (instead of 3) between her meds. i’m moving without crutches or limp or much pain, though the ibuprofen helps tremendously to keep the inflammation down. weird that three weeks later i still have swelling. isn’t that weird? well it is to me. i start physical therapy tomorrow in east jordan and i have to admit that i’m a little bit nervous. ok, a lot nervous. i read something about a bike being part of the regimen and i don’t know that my knee will bend that far that fast. 
dan’s still working this week, after multiple layoff announcements and “stays”. they did get news yesterday that revenue didn’t come close to expenses for the quarter – in spite of rounds of temporary lay offs – and everyone in the company got a pay cut. but nobody got canned. those close to retirement have been offered some incentives to retire early. and they are trying to keep as many people employed as long as possible. he’ll be coming north on the weekend, either for a visit or to collect henry and me and go back south as a family. it all depends on mom’s recovery.
henry does seem a bit confused this morning. he’s been walking around with his palms up saying “dadda? dadda?. but he really really loves mom’s breathing “exerciser”. it’s one of those thingies that you blow in a tube and it raises the ping pong ball. she’s supposed to blow hard enough long enough to keep the ball at a certain point for a certain amount of time. henry sits on her lap and giggles when she does it. it’s Very Cute.
spring has come to northern michigan. daffodils are blooming all over and there are so many robins i’ve now lost count, after having seen my first one of the season just on sunday. granted i’ve not been out much… the ice is gone off the lake, and there are a few buds on some of the trees. and the smell… can you smell that? ahhhh. i think it’s the smell of the earth thawing. ahhhh…
k, time to jet. henry will be waking from his nap any moment. i should get some lunch together for us all. have a great, beautiful, sunny day wherever you are. by the way, where are you? are you out there? do you read us often?